Number of Yalta tourists increased for 17%: City Mayor

(QHA) - The number of tourists, who came on holidays to Yalta, Crimea, over 11 month of 2013, was 17% higher than over the same period of 2012, Yalta mayor Serhiy Ilash said on the air of a municipal TV channel.
"As of December 1, a total of 705,728 people went on holidays to Yalta. Compared with 2012, this is a 17 percent increase in the number of tourists. This tendency continues until the end of the year," Ilash said.
He noted that the implementation of the project "Yalta - a Major Black Sea All-Season Resort" launched in 2013 had helped the situation. According to the preliminary results of activities in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, Yalta ranked second in the health resort and tourism sector, the mayor said.
The mayor said that as 2014 was declared the Year of Tourism in the CIS, a program of tourism development in Yalta for the next five years would be created and approved.
"We also hope that a comprehensive renovation and modernization of the port of Yalta will start, which will contribute to the development of the cruise and yacht tourism," Ilash said.